Transcendent Love
by YuriFan5
Summary: Akari Tendo goes back in time to stop her mother from dying... but wait! That's Ranma? Akari walks the fine line between influencing the future too much, and not enough. Warnings: Powerfull OC, Intelligent Ranma, and a reasonable Akane.
1. Where It All Started

A/N: Well, let me know what you think. If you are going to flame me about bad grammar or something go use them for campfires instead of handing them out.

Akari slowly made her way down the road she traveled every day, and yet, she had never gone down this one before. She stopped and greeted everyone she met, as her parents had taught her to, even astounding some by greeting them by name. She inquired into their daily lives and listened diligently. She bid each of them a polite goodbye and continued on her way, leaving them all with thoughts like _what a polite young lady!_ Or _I wish my children were as well behaved._

None of them really questioned how she knew their names, after all, they lived in Nerima. Stranger things happened every day. As she approached the door of a building she often frequented, she hesitated, feeling somewhat like a stranger or a solicitor, but Kami-sama had been very firm about this part, she must do it right. She let herself in since the gate was open, and knocked politely on the door to the house.

"Hello, can I help you?" came a sweet voice as the owner of said voice opened the sliding door. Akari was distracted for a moment, the sound of sparring drifting over to her. Shaking her head to clear out the cobwebs she turned towards the Matriarch of the Tendo dojo and, smiling, said, "Yes, you may, is this where F-" she stopped herself quickly. She ALMOST said it, so close, but she caught herself in time. What was the name again? Oh Yes, "…where Akane Tendo lives?" The words felt strange and alien, not to mention uncomfortable as they rolled off her tongue.

"Why yes, I believe she is in the dojo practicing. Why don't you come inside and I'll make you some tea while you wait for her." Akari gladly accepted and followed Kasumi into the house. Things didn't seem to have changed much, but she wasn't here to admire the scenery. As she walked past the unattended Shogi board which Soun and Genma often used, she heard a spash ,followed by a familiar voice, "What'd you do that for?!"

She turned, not daring to hope, but it came all the same, unbidden and unwelcome. Out of the Koi pond jumped a well endowed red haired beauty. Suddenly all thoughts of her mission or tea or what Kami-sama said fled from her head, and she was filled with a mixture of confusion, joy, and sadness. As it was it took her several seconds to recover from the sight, but once she did, she was blazing across the yard.

_Mother! Oh thank Kami-sama I'm not too late_. She dashed over and latching onto the pigtailed martial artist.

"Nani?" Came the confused voice of Ranma-chan.

_Oh that's right._ She sighed inwardly. "Umm.. . sorry, never mind."


	2. The Dream

A/N: Well, I wasn't going to post this till sometime near Friday, after FCATs are done, but you all raped my inbox with favs and reviews I just had to let you have this. I received a total of 5 reviews, 2 author alerts, and 7 story alerts * victory sign*. That is more than I got for my last fic over all (minus the reviews). Thank you to TendoAkane92, Tai Khan, jdcocoagirl(you especially), Scourgeofthegalaxy, and Moon Miko.

Anyway in this chapter we get to see why Akari was sent back, but you'll have to wait a bit for the actual scene where she is sent back, and you'll never guess who shows up to do it. :P

PS: Thanks to Hitokiri Hero, who continues to plow through my horrible, blocky, raw writing and turn it into the sparkly clean story you all read.

Disclaimer: Akari: YuriFan5 doesn't own Ranma ½, but if he did he would be the happiest guy in the world.

YF: Damn straight!

Akari wasn't even sure how this had happened. Everything was such a blur. She remembered introducing herself with a bow, "Hello, my name is Akari. Please take care of me." And she had been met with a predictable, almost like clockwork, deluge of questions. The rest was a blur of comments related to how late it was, how impolite it would be to turn away a guest this late, and sleeping arrangements. Now here she was, sleeping in the same room as "Akane" . It wasn't like she hadn't already done this when she was younger, but it was different then. She stared out the window from the bed "Akane" had insisted she take until she fell into an uneasy sleep.

**Akari's Dreams**

_I've seen this before. This is when mother left for her battle._ Akari, some how having a semi-lucid dream, watched as the events unfolded before her.

"Akane, don't worry, I'll be fine." Came the confident voice of her beloved mother. A younger Akari ran forward and begged her mother not to go, pleading and spouting out a very Soun-ish stream of tears. Younger Akari was firmly but gently placed in the strong arms of her father.

"Ranma," came the voice of her father, her mother turned, an inquisitive look on her face. "Be careful."

"Aint I always?" Her mother gave her father her trademark grin and walked off with a confident smile… the last smile Akari would ever see her wear.

*Flash*

The scene changed, and now the view was from her father's arms, as the family watched the fight from afar. Mother appeared to be winning against Cayenne(1), and it was a safe bet that she wouldn't be destroying Nerima or any other part of Japan. Just as the battle seemed won, Cayenne looked to the side, and seeing our family, shot a bolt of ki out of her finger at father.

"Akane!" The cry rang out and mother rushed to save her. She probably would have made it too, except that she was hit in the back by an attack from Cayenne. Suddenly the world was spinning and now father was in front of Akari, and no matter how much she struggled to change her dream, she was forced to watch in horror, just as she had then, as the beam pierced father through the heart. Father had a shocked look on her face, and then she smiled down at Akari, knelt and placed her gently on the roof, and then collapsed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A cry rang out from where mother was, just steps away from us. Mother rushed over to help, but realized it was too late. She leaned in, tears falling on father's chest, and listened to father's dying whisper.

She never did tell anyone what those last words were.

Akari, who had been recently receiving some basic Ki training, felt the Ki in the air near mother and father grow so thick it was visible as a red pulsing light. Mother walked over and picked up younger Akari, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and placed her in Auntie Kasumi's hands. She turned to face Cayenne, who was laughing insanely.

Everyone noticed the way mother's head hung, the tears falling freely. The pulsing red light withdrew until it disappeared around mother, like it had been sucked up by a vacuum. Any normal observer would have thought the ki had dispersed, but those with martial arts training, saw that it was quite the contrary. Instead of glowing faintly like she was before, now looking at mother was like staring directly into the bulb of a light house beacon. Even the non martial artists present cringed as they felt some primal fear telling them to go and run far away from the scene that was about to unfold. Mother pushed off of the roof we were standing on with the force suggesting of hidden JATOs somewhere on her person. She flew at her lover's killer, and a scream rang throughout all of Nerima.

"KANSEIKEI SHISHI HOKODAN!!"

A pillar of red light big enough to engulf the entire park they were fighting over shot up, making even the non martial artists tremble in fear at the raw power displayed by this soon to be twice over god killer. For five whole minutes the pillar soared into the sky, and then, as if it were a slinky, lifted off the ground at the same time the other end came slamming back down. To anyone without a high vantage point, it seemed that it had gone up and then slammed back down almost instantaneously, but those on high could see that it had done a full 180 in the upper atmosphere and come back down, gaining power from passing all of the rest of the attack on the way down. Kasumi covered young Akari's eyes, but when she uncovered them again, it wasn't hard to figure out what had happened. The crater big enough to build several football stadiums inside coupled with the loud boom she had heard made it pretty obvious what had happened. When they got there, mother was standing there panting, no sign of Cayenne anywhere, although there were a few things that looked suspiciously like teeth scattered around.

Mother just gave them a long, sad look, and then collapsed in tears.

Mother cried for the majority of five days, only stopping to eat, even then crying onto her food. She isolated herself, staying locked in her room. She appeared once, on the day of father's funeral, garbed in black pants and a black version of her favorite red shirt, the dragon on this one was in gold. She didn't make eye contact, nor did she speak to anyone. Akari remembered never seeing mother this upset, even when she had found out that grandfather Genma had disowned her for choosing to live the way she had, which Akari hadn't understood until far after both mother and father were dead. When it came for mother's chance to speak about father before he was finally buried, she walked up, leaving Akari with Auntie Kasumi, which she seemed to be doing a lot of recently, and whispered to father. She placed a kiss upon his forehead, and two small drops fell on his chest before mother straightened up completely, and slowly walked away.

None of us ever saw mother again until that fateful day. When we got back to the Tendo residence, mother's things had been taken and her pack was not in the closet. Word came drifting in of great deeds done by a buxom red head that showed very little emotion. We heard that she had killed Happosai, and walked away with a shrug. We heard she beat Tauro close to death but stopped at the killing blow, and slowly turned with a sad look on her face and walked away.

There were as many rumors of mother dyeing as there were people in Tokyo. One of the most outrageous, and therefore all the more likely, was that mother had lifted a mountain up and dropped it on herself. Another said that she went to the top of Mt. Fuji and walked to the very highest part where no one can breathe the air because it was so thin, and spent a whole five minutes just slowly inhaling and exhaling, until finally slamming her fist into the ground, causing an avalanche and burying herself alive. Lore has it she threatened the few hikers present, all of them with oxygen tanks, that she would kill anyone who tried to dig her up.

Akari knew what really happened, since she received a discreet letter from a traveling antique seller in tears, saying it was her mother's wish that he pay his debt back to her by delivering the letter. Apparently, mother had retrieved his cart from a gang of bandits, claiming she was testing herself against their leader. She only gave him the letter after he insisted he do something.

Akari scanned the letter, and rushed over to the house. She grabbed her life's savings and rushed out of the house before anyone could question her. She ran and ran and ran, swam the ocean, and continued to run. She didn't stop running until she got to Joketsuzo.

The letter had read (in poorly written kanji):

Dear Akari,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I find that the more times I try to kill myself and end my misery, the more I realize that my one true flaw is that I am too strong. The irony of this statement weighs heavily upon me, since I spent my life devoted to the Art and consequentially, gaining strength. Now all my strength is resisting my every effort, as if some cruel power is trying to keep me bound here.

I am going to give others one last chance to take away my misery, before I do it myself. Normally I would just act un-womanly around mom until she enforces the Seppuku contract, but even if I got on my knees and begged her, she would not do it, claiming I was not in my right mind. I am going to Jusendo to see if I can get Herb and Saffron to finish me off. I figure their combined power might be enough to at least wound me enough that I will die from it, but more than likely even if they do agree to do it, my tough body will recover before I can die. If by some chance I survive this encounter, I will walk north into the frozen lands, to where it is so cold the very moisture in your body turns to ice. There I will make myself a tomb in the ice and leave this painful existence behind so that I can join Akane in a better place.

I want to ask you to not show this to anyone until at least a week after you receive it, which should give me enough time to see the job through. I realize I haven't been the best mother, and I probably shouldn't expect you to do this for me, but I must ask it anyway.

Please, let me go. I can't stand this anymore. I can't even describe the agony I am in. I ask you, unfair as it is, to please grant your mother one last boon. I had hoped to see you graduate middle school last week (Akari was touched mother had remembered), but alas I am so engrossed in my pain that it dominates my consciousness. How was your graduation party? Are Kasumi, Nabiki, Mother, and Soun taking care of you? I hope you live a happier life than I did, and that you find someone as meaningful to you as I did.

P.S. You can tell Nabiki to stop sending her spies after me.

Love you forever,

Ranma Tendo

*Flash*

Akari clambered up the last bit of the rock face, and, peering over the edge, saw mother, Saffron, and Herb talking. As she started to pull herself up, she heard her mother's familiar voice, albeit strangled to death with pain, "What do you mean you won't?!"

"Ranma, as much as I admire you as a martial artist and sympathize with you, I simply cannot kill you out of the blue, and no amount of provoking on your part will change that." Saffron gave mother a determined look.

"The same goes for me Ranma," came the feminine voice of girl-form Herb.

"We'll see about that."

*Flash*

Mother crashed into Akari, knocking her off the edge of the cliff she was squatting on. When she noticed, she cried out her name and dove after Akari, tears in her eyes. As she caught up to Akari, she embraced her and turned around, cutting a deep gouge in Akari's heart as she realized that this was the same protective position that father had been in. She knew mother could have survived on her own, but with Akari's added weight and the way she positioned her back towards the ground, cradling Akari protectively above her, it was clear what would happen. Before she could cry out, they impacted and she lost consciousness.

It couldn't have been very long before she regained her senses since the dust from the impact hadn't even settled yet… Either that or it had been a really hard impact. She sat up and scrambled off of her mother, taking her mother in her arms. Her mother looked at her, smiling despite the trickle of blood running down her chin from the corner of her mouth. She opened her mouth to speak, and Akari leaned in to listen.

"Live… well… for me… Akari." Her mother looked up at the sky. "I'm coming… Akane." She whispered these last words to her daughter, and then her head rolled back and she went on to a better place.

"Noooooooooooooo! Okaa-san!!"

**Real World**

Akari sat up yelling "Noooo!" She startled Akane out of her sleep and she looked over in concern.

"OKAA-SAN!" Akane jumped to her feet and turned on the light to see what was wrong, but all that happened was that the girl kept crying and calling out "Okaa-san!", so she sat down and rubbed the girl's back, whispering words of comfort and cradling her to her chest.

"Otou-san, please forgive me!" Akari crushed herself against Akane, crying into her shoulder. She kept repeating, "Please forgive me." "Please forgive me, Otou-san." "Otou-san please forgive me!" Akane had no idea what this girl was talking about, but it was obvious that for some reason she was asking Akane for forgiveness, and she looked like she really needed it ,so Akane whispered to her, "Shh, shhh, it's ok. I forgive you." Over and over she repeated it until the child slowly calmed her hysterics until she passed quietly into a more peaceful sleep. As she tucked the girl in, she noticed the entire household was watching her from the doorway. She looked at them, shrugged, turned off the light, and laid down in bed and tried to get back to sleep.

(1)- Ya know, like the pepper.

A/N: Muhaha, the curtain rises. Flamers go put themselves to better use in TF2.


	3. The Aftermath

A/N: Wow, I am touched by the number of people who are reading my story. I want to thank you all by name, but there are just too many. For now, *gives collective hug* that'll have to do. In other news, I'm donig my SAT's tommorrow, so wish me luck. If I do well I may post the next chapter sooner than normal.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, but I do own a computer, so I can write about it as much as I want.

Akari stared at her breakfast as a voice from seemingly no where proclaimed "Jiiiiiiiiiiiii…"(1) Ruminating over the events contained in her dreams last night, she was forced to remember what happened afterwards.

*Flashback*

When she arrived back at Nerima and the terrible news was delivered to her family, there was a shocked silence. Everyone knew something was going to happen but they never though it would be this. Maybe arrived wasn't the best way to put it, since that would imply being under her own power. Apparently she had gone into what Doctor Tofu, upon seeing her state and examining her, called "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder". He told everyone else that her mind had put her into a comatose state so that it didn't have to deal with everything at once, but would probably slowly bring her out of it. As it was, Herb and Saffron had an entourage bring her back along with a letter explaining the events and their condolences for what happened. Not that it mattered, but it was the thought that counted.

The funeral, which almost all of Nerima attended, even the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony and Battle Dining schools, was a grand affair. As many who could make it of the people mother had helped in her travels during her last months showed up as well. Even Akari(Pig girl) and Ryouga were there (having been sent an invitation a week in advance of all the others). Akari (Tendo), who had just recently come out of her coma like state, was astounded to see the number of people Mother had had an impact upon. As she walked around in a daze, she was constantly set upon by people wanting to give her their condolences and telling stories about her mother.

Even Saffron showed up.

Akari was amazed to learn her mother had killed a god. No wonder her mother always held back when fighting her, even if it did upset her(2). She saw opposing schools of marital arts actually getting along at mother's funeral and… were those _Amazons_?! It was a bit confusing since she had to temporarily set aside the notion that mother had always been female when listening to everyone referring to mother with masculine pronouns and conjugation. When she asked Aunty Kasumi about it, who had taken up the mantle of being her second mother, she promised to explain it after the funeral.

*End Flashback*

"Hey, are you ok?" Father asked in a concerned tone.

"Of course Ot… Akane." The mask which she had become so proficient of late at putting on was instantly up, and she was the very image of a content person, while inside her memories continued to play on unbidden.

*Flashback*

As the coffin mother was in was slowly being lowered,a blinding light illuminated the area, and a voice reverberated throughout the area. It felt as if it was speaking inside your mind, yet everyone heard it.

"I'm sorry," the power in the voice shook the ground, "but I cannot allow this to come to pass." A figure appeared in Akari's vision as she squinted into the light. It wasn't well defined, and it looked more like some sort of shadow with the way it was blurry around the edges, or that might have been the tears in Akari's eyes from the intense light. The figure seemed to reach a hand out to her, and she took it, not knowing why she did, without hesitation. In an instant they were gone, and so was the light. Everyone looked around in a daze, except Herb and Saffron, who gave each other an 'I can't believe that just happened' look.

(1)- Jii means basically an intense stare. You hear it alot in anime when one character stares at another, so I figured I would stick it in here.

(2)-Sounds like someone we know ne?

A/N: Ok, I'm cutting it off there, next chapter we will find out how things got the way they were. Remember, long reviews bring faster updates.


	4. Mission and Determination

CH 4: Mission and Determination

A/N: Gomen-nasai *bows*. I didn't even realize how long I was taking for the next update. In celebration of my recent triumph over writers block, I have decided to post hte next chapter. I do have to warn you all however, that I will be slowing down my rate of posting since I haven't finsihed the story yet. I still need to wait for my beta reader to get back(or get a new one) to check ch 9.  
Disclaimer: Mallet space is still an unexplainable phenomenon...oh and Idon't own Ranma 1/2.

When Akari's eyes cleared from the blinding light, she appeared to be sitting in a room of some sort. It really couldn't be described as much else since the scenery kept changing every couple of seconds, as if the room couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. As she looked around (still not getting up quite yet) she was approached by a majestic figure. It wasn't the figure itself that suggested majesty, but more the air of command and power around him. As he approached she got a good look at his robe, which appeared to be a swirl of all known colors, constantly moving and never quite the same. It looked as if there were patterns forming in the colors, but the harder Akari looked for one the less apparent it became.

The man stopped in front of her and offered her a hand. As it was pulling her up, she noted the material his gloves were made of looked like the stars at night. It was a peculiar thing, because if you looked directly at it, it didn't do much, but if you looked at it out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw it twinkle, but as soon as you turn to confirm it, you see a plain old star pattern glove. Akari looked up to see he had a very nice face, and he had kind eyes (there was a glimmer of mischief in them if you looked really close).

"Well my dear, welcome to my abode."

Surprised to see such a man, Akari almost stared at him, but she was raised to respond automatically with manners. "Pleasure to meet you Mr…"

"Ah, how silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am, " at this the man with the psychedelic robe pointed to himself, " the Kami of Chaos, and this, " a grand sweeping gesture, "is my realm."

"What do you want with me?" Akari was quite concerned at this point. The room had decided to become a mass of swirling galaxies, making it quite disorienting when you looked down and saw nothing under your feet.

"Well you see my dear, Ranma, your mother, was my Avatar of Chaos(1*), and had been doing quite a good job of stirring up trouble until another god's avatar decided to kill her spouse, which ultimately lead to her death. While thankfully Ranma managed to kill the other avatar before dying, Nerima, which I have so carefully kept in chaos for the past 5000 years, is now open to the influence of any Kami that wants it. Obviously I cannot allow this, so I am here to make a deal with you."

"What kind of deal," Akari asked suspiciously.

"What is the western saying? 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. Thankfully I still have influence over Nerima, so I can also influence its recent time stream. I will send you back in time to before the incident, and you must stop my Avatar from losing its will to live."

"So in other words, you want me to stop my father from dying."

"Well, in essence yes. Of course, you cannot let them know who you are, otherwise some terrible things could happen."

Akari just stared at him, not really believing he was asking her such a difficult thing. Save her mother? In a heart beat. Save her father? Without a backward glance. But I don't know the first thing about my parents' past! How on Earth am I supposed to interact with them?

"Why my dear," the Kami of Chaos said, somehow reading Akari's thoughts, "That is exactly whatI am going to show you." HE reached out and touched her forehead with his index finger, and Akari was assaulted with the memories of both her parents lives.

She saw it all.

First her mother, born a boy, aging slowly, to the seppuku contract, to the neko-ken, to Jusenkyo, to the trip to Japan. Then her father, born a girl, from the death of her mother, to the start of the hentai hoard, to her meeting with Ranma. Then the memories of their time together started. She saw all the events that transpired between them(1) up till the first wedding. She saw the post-first wedding disaster events, and how her mother had beaten Happosai for the title of grand master. She saw how mother slowly broke off all the other engagements, and how she practically beat Cologne into the ground and gained status as an Amazon Elder, able to break the engagement.(That explains the Amazons at mother's funeral. They came to honor a fallen elder. )

She watched as mother and father set up a second wedding. She saw how father got splashed with the water, magically modified to be permanent, from the spring of drowned man (once again courtesy of Herb) as one of the carriers tripped coming into the celebration hall. She watched as mother went with the now permanently male Akane to visit Herb and see if the curse could be lifted. She felt the heartbreak along with her mother and father as they received the news that there was no cure. She watched as Ranma made the toughest decision of his life, to lock his curse. She watched as her mother and father made their way back to Japan, blushing at the parts where they made love, to her birth, all the way to her mother's funeral. When she came back out of the memories, she gasped.

Everything was so… clear. She understood why mother and father did everything they did in their lives, why the still male Ranma had kissed father at the marriage ceremony, even though father had just minutes ago been permanently turned into a man. She now understood why mother always held back when fighting her. It wasn't that she thought less of her, it was that she was tearing herself up inside every time she hit Akari, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing her to an attack that was too strong (2). She saw how love, fear, pain, and happiness had influenced everyone. As she looked into the Kami of Chaos's eyes with determination, and she said the two words which shaped the future of the entire world.

"I'm ready."

A/N: Well, now you know the entire story behind the story(that sounded weird), hopefully I can still resolve it well. I want to extend several boat loads of thanks to Hitokiri-Hero who is diligently beta reading my crapy work and somehow mashing my massive, hastily written paragraphs into understandable bite sized pieces.

(1)-I'm not gonna list all of them, since the only people reading these will be people who already know everything.

(2)- If only someone *cough Akane cough*, would figure this out themselves.


	5. Kuno Means Delusion

CH 5: Kuno=Delusion

A/N: In celebration of several things, most notably the fact that I am turning 18 tommorrow, I am posting another chapter *applause*. Also, a big hug to all the people staffing the Altered Realities C2 for adding my story.

Disclaimer: Kuno is a _rich,_ crazy, samurai wannabe, and even he doesn't own Ranma 1/2.

Yeah it may have seemed really simple to her then, but now all she could think was, _I must have been crazy!_ Being this close to the mother (or a close equivalent) that just weeks ago died protecting her: it wasn't the easiest thing ever. In fact, Akari was finding it increasingly hard to not just jump on her mother and confess everything.

As Akari stared into her bowl of Kung Fu FlakesTM (now with 20% more kick) and pondered the meaning of the universe, asking such questions as 'Why people can seem to teleport in Nerima' or 'Is it possible to send someone through mallet space', the world continued to turn. (1)

Elsewhere, Tatewaki Kuno, having recently been released from the hospital after being fed to his sister's pet alligator, found his spirits low. He decided that a visit to his fiery Akane Tendo and the Pig-tailed Girl would be just the pickup he needed. Not even five minutes after being released, (seeing as there was no school on Sunday), he was in the Tendo's yard.

As Kuno burst through the door, Akari sighed. _There goes the teleportation again. I swear he was in the hospital just the other day._ Akari whipped out a notepad and hastily scrawled:

Low intelligence =Teleportation?

With that done she stood up to go meet the 'true blunder' of Furinkan High. Kuno was chasing after Mother, currently in his... or rather _her_ cursed form. "

"How many times do I have to tell you Kuno? I'm a guy," Ranma-chan called back over her shoulder as she ran away from Kuno's 'loving' arms. This of course slid right off if the barrier of delusion called 'Kuno's World'.

"Ah, every time you play hard to get only makes me want you more. Come my love, join me in my manly embrace." He flung himself at Ranma-chan, only to find himself face first against a foot. It may just be the jangling about of an organ that had long since fallen out of use, but Kuno's brain registered that this was a new foot that he wasn't used to being hit by.

"What's this?" Kuno picked himself off the ground and stared at what looked like a combination of Akane Tendo and the Pigtailed Girl.

Could it possibly be that the gods were finally rewarding him for his devotion with a perfect being? Yes! It must be! How could they not favor a pious warrior such as himself(2)"Young fair maiden I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, must date with thee," yelled Kuno as he lunged at Akari. This time he felt a fist smash him into the ground with the force of a falling bus. _Ah, and the strength to match._

"I will only date those who can beat me in a martial arts match." Akari inwardly grinned at the shocked expression on her father's face, no doubt due to the fact that she had been trying to avoid such an arrangement for years. Kuno sprang up fresh as a dewy morning, looking as if he hadn't been hit with enough force to kill most human instantly... twice.

In the middle of all of this, Kasumi was looking around in confusion. She had been in the process of pouring some tea for Akari, and was trying to figure out how said martial artist had managed to get from a sitting position in the dining room, to a full high kick in the time it took Kasumi to look down at tea cup she was pouring into.

"Fine then, I will challenge thee to a duel tomorrow after school at Furinkan High."

"Good, now that that is settled," said Akari as she reached behind her and grabbed the handle of her mallet in mallet space(1), "get out of here!" As she said this, Akari swung the mallet out in a golf like fashion, driving the force equivalent to being hit with a boulder into Kuno's chest. Kuno soared out of the Tendo yard and crashed through the window of a very familiar hospital room. As the nurse came in to clean up the bed, she saw Kuno lying on it, looking like he just got hit by a bullet train. Sighing, she turned around to tell the doctor that Kuno-san was back, wondering if she really needed the bonus for working in Nerima.

*Back at the Tendo household*

"Sugoi, you are really good," Akane trotted over next to Akari. Said girl blushed furiously.

"Arigato, Ot- Akane."

"Oh, that's right, how long are you staying in Nerima?" Akari looked around at the yard and gained a distant look in her eyes.

"By the look of things, I'll be staying her a while." By this time they were all back in the dining room, enjoying one of Kasumi's home made meals.

"Well then you must stay with us," proclaimed Soun, which was followed by a weak refusal from Akari (on the grounds of politeness) but it was eventually settled that she would stay with them.

"By the way, what grade are you in anyway," asked Akane.

"I'm a first year in high school," stated Akari, turning away and blushing slightly.

"What! But I thought you said you were thirteen?"

"Well, Okaa-san was always on my case about not growing up to be as dumb as her when she was my age," at this Akari glanced at Ranma and whinced, even though he had no idea she was referring to him, "and Otou-san and both my Aunties always helped me with my work, so I ended up skipping a few grades."

"Well, why don't we see what we can do about enrolling you in our school tomorrow, ne?" Akari glanced up at her Father, and tears welled up in her eyes. She pounced on Akane and hugged her till she swore she heard her own ribs cracking, at which she exclaimed "Itei"

Akari managed to arrange her features into what she thought was the appropriate arrangement and said, "I would like that very much."

And for one whole day, in the history of Nerima, everything was calm.

A/N: Ok kiddies, that's where I'm cutting it off, one of the next chapters will contain a very interesting duel.

(1)- I do not own the right to mallet space. I am merely an admirer of HitokiriHERO's work and decided I would use it. All credit goes to him.

(2)- Someone please gag me. I hate thinking like Kuno.


	6. Delusion's End

Ch 6: Delusion's End

A/N: Gomen Gomen. I can't appologize enough for how late this update is, but it's all in your best interest...really. I had to make some major changes to the part I'm currently writing, so I had to go back and look at all the past chapters and make soem discrete changes. I also changed it so it ends up like a more mature, refined fanfic, instead of the trash it was before. I'm also extremely lazy, and no one has been sending me long reviews, just favs and alerts. It's not that I don't like those, but reviews are more motivating. With the end of senior year coming up, and teacher's piling on the work, it just seems as if there was no motivation to keep posting. Luckily, Tirsis has been updating One Half a Wing and a Prayer, and I decided to make one more effort for the fans. If nothing happens beyond the usual one to two sentence reviews I've been getting, I may just stop posting, or worse, post everything I have and never write about it again.

As always flames will be given to Mario to throw at his enemies, and reviews and questions will be given a personal response in the next chapter.

-Due to severe injury from Akari's mallet on certain parties, this chapter is taking place a week after the last one.-

As the students of Furinkan high gathered around to watch the 'true blunder' fail once again, murmers washed moved through the crowd.

"…can't believe it took him a week to heal…"

"Yeah, even Akane doesn't hit that hard…"

"I heard that she used a baseball bat."

"No way, I heard it was a sledge hammer."

"I heard she's staying at the Tendo Dojo."

"No way!"

"Really."

"…another fiancé for Ranma, no doubt."

Most of these rumors were being spread by Nabiki's network, which was working frantically to squeeze every last yen out of this duel. As Akari stood near one end of the football(1) field waiting for Kuno, who was 5 minutes late, she observed the way Nabiki was flowing throughout the crowd. She was apparently exchanging money for some sort of package, and at other times taking money and then writing down something on her notepad. She gave a heavy sigh. _Mother did warn me this morning that she would be taking bets, but I will need to find out what that package is._

Her attention was drawn back to the present by Kuno's trademark entrance, in which he shouted some random nonsense and then waved his bokken through the air. Akari took up the loose stance which her mother so favored. Honestly, she could slaughter Kuno I she wanted to.

After her meeting with the Kami of Chaos, and practically living both her parents' lives, she knew all the techniques both her parents ever accumulated over their entire lives. Hell, she knew some techniques of her mother's that she hadn't even invented yet. She was probably stronger than even her mother at the moment. _Well, in everything except chi attacks that is._ Akari thought to herself. Reliving the acquisition of techniques was one thing, but she didn't get to feel the chi flow of her mother's, and later her father's, attacks, so she couldn't easily reproduce them, at least not without giving away how she knew about them.

Kuno went in with all guns blazing, shouting "ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta…" Over and over again. It was a comical imitation of the speed of her mother's Kanchu Tenshin Amaguriken. It almost made her cry to see how slow and random the strikes were. She lazily wove in and out of Kuno's strikes, barely paying attention to it. Akari, because of sheer boredom, called out to one of her classmates.

"Oy, Kaname, what did you get for answer five on Hinako sensei's English homework?"

The flustered girl replied, "Ummm…I believe it was 'Good Evening'(2)."

_Jeeze, why do Americans have to make everything so difficult. Why have two words for one thing. Not to mention the extremely long syllables. Why can't they just say 'konban-wa'? It's only three syllables._ During all this, Akari was effortlessly dodging Kuno's strikes. In a fit of rage, Kuno increased his speed and power to his max, having initially held a little back because he was fighting a woman. Akari was impressed…or rather, she would have been, if it was the first time she saw Kuno damage property from air pressure alone. She decided she should make this quick and raced towards a low hanging light pole. She flooded her arms and legs with chi, making them close to twenty times stronger than they were originally. As she approached the pole, she pushed off with her legs, achieving a lift off that looked something like an F-14 breaking the sound barrier. It even left a small crater where she pushed off.

As she approached the pole she swung her legs behind her and pushed a little extra Chi into her shoulders. She reached out and grabbed the pole as she approached it, swinging her leg forward to spin her around it, pivoting on the spot where she was holding the pole. As she went around, she pulled her legs in so her feet were resting against the pole. She then hunched forward, to gather speed, and, when she judged it right, she let go with her hands and pushed off with her legs, actually bending the solid steel pole with the force of her takeoff. Actually, bending the pole wasn't _that_ surprising since she actually did break the sound barrier, if only just, upon takeoff from said pole(5). She released the Chi from her arms and instead focused it on the bones in her legs, before she flipped in the air and aimed a left kick at Kuno's chest.

Now normally, one would dodge such a kick. Sane people would dodge such a kick. Hell, even people in an asylum would dodge this fearful technique. Kuno falls under none of these categories, so we must examine his reasoning. Kuno's World couldn't process the fact that a person could travel faster than the speed of sound, so it just dropped that factor out of the equation and told Kuno to block as if he was fighting a normal speed opponent. To Kuno's defense, his bokken was made of the finest hardwood in all of Japan. Unfortunately, hardwood wasn't designed by nature to be rammed with objects going just over Mach 1. Right before she hit, Akari appeared to be shouting something, but no-one could tell what.

Akari grinned seeing Kuno's wimpy defense. Because he stood still, she already won before she hit. She broke his bokken upon contact, feeling the jolt go up her leg, glad she had reinforced her leg bones with her Chi. As her left leg hit Kuno, she pulled it back and snapped out with her right. To all the bystanders, it looked like a continuous stream of blurring legs were hitting Kuno's chest, head, and arms. As Akari landed her last kick and pushed off of her sempai, her voice rang throughout the area.

"Take This! De**n**kou Kobushi School's Secret Technique(4), kuuchuu hirameku handou(3)"

Akari walked over to were Nabiki was gawking at Kuno and grabbed a handful of money.

"I'll take this as my fee for giving you such a show," she looked over her shoulder at Kuno, "Oh, and you can fall down now." As she continued on back towards the Tendo Dojo to do her homework, everyone present heard all of the bones in Kuno's chest, skull, and upper arms crack, most of which broke entirely. Kuno collapsed into a pile of flesh somewhat like a deflated balloon with broken twigs in it. Whatever Kuno did afterwards, everyone was sure he would never again try for Akari.

(1)- I am referring to the Eastern version of football, otherwise known as Soccer in the west

(2)- This is said in English, in case you didn't guess

(3)- Literally translated as Mid-air Flash Kick

(4)- Roughly Translates as "Lightning Fist"

(5)- the only viable analogue I can give for this is the tips of helicopter rotor blades, which break the sound barrier, but only just, causing that familiar sound we all associate with helicopters.


	7. Cats and Engagements

Ch 7: Cats and Engagements

A/N: Ok, tonight is a double whammy to celebrate the last day of high school (at least for seniors like myself). Actually, it's more like tonight I finally stopped dragging my ass and finished editing the chapters. Also, I need to pay homage to those that helped drag me out of my rut with their nice reviews.

A thousand cookies to Scourgeofthegalaxy, and a big hug. Hehe, if such a thing existed, I'm sure Ranma would be the best at martial arts writing, scourge. After all, there is martial arts caligraphy.

Many thanks to AMWOOD co who pointed out that the tip of a towel also breaks the sound barrier when it makes that cracking noise. I'd like to also thank you AMWOOD for the kind things you said. I know that people just reading it means they enjoy it, but it's nice to "hear" it every once in a while.

Special thanks to deangelos girl for favoriting my story, and to Sunbath for the alert.

Disclaimer: Insert witty disclaimer here

As Akari was sitting in her Father's room doing her homework, she heard a crash from downstairs followed by a call of "Nihao!"

Oh great, here we go, thought Akari, rolling her eyes, hmmm… how did mother and father get rid of Shampoo again? NO NO NO! I promised I would not interfere with the time line. This affirmation was followed by a series of loud and extremely distracting crashes. Then again, thought Akari, with a sly smile on her face, No one said I couldn't 'ease' my stay.

Her mind made up, she put on the blank mask she had learned from her aunty Nabiki, went through the calming exercises that her mother had come up with. As she stepped down off the stair case, she heard a meow. Remember, it's just Shampoo, not a real c-c-cat, just Sampoo. When her mantra had eased her into the proper mind set, she stepped off the bottom stair. She spied Shampoo-neko chasing Mother all over the house. Perfect! She thought to herself with an evil grin. She quietly waited in the hall way, and, when Shampoo came bounding through the halls after her mother, she deftly caught the feline in mid-air. She held the cat in an iron grip and walked leisurely to the kitchen.

"Hey Kasumi!" she called out. She was answered with a heavenly smile that had entranced more than one youth back when she was in grade school. Akari shook off the effects and continued her ploy.

"Do we have any eggplant?" She hated eggplant, but it was the first thing that came to mind. "I was in Korea during my travels and I learned this wonderful recipe for c-cat meat, but it requires eggplant."

"Well I'm afraid we don't but we do have… Oh my. Isn't that Shampoo?"

"Akari gave the cat her best fake speculative look, trying to really not see it, least it unleash the involuntarily gained neko-ken she was supressing, then gave Kasumi the "why haven't you taken your pills yet" look.

"This c-cat has been making way too much noise playing with … Ranma, and I can't get any studying done. "

"Oh just put her outside Akari!" Kasumi frowned at her in disapproval (this was the equivalent of yelling on the Kasumi Scale™), but turned around and continued preparing that night's dinner. Akari carried her burden out to the yard, where she dropped all pretenses. She lifted Shampoo up by the nape of her neck and held her in front of her face.

"Listen you cheap bimbo, "Akari added some ki to her voice you make it extra menacing, " the next time I catch you tormenting Mother," Akari, not noting her slip up, added some ki to her eyes as well, to make them glow for extra effect, and continued, "I will personally see to it that you will never be fertile again! In either form!" So saying, she turned the cat around and booted her towards the Cat Café. As Shampoo was flying through the air, she thought Mother? Must talk to great grand mother about this.

Meanwhile, another person at the Tendo household just "happened" to hear the conversation. Mother huh? Hmmm… this warrants further investigation.

Akari came storming back in and 'accidentally' raised her voice just a little too loud to be heard only by Kasumi.

"Really ,Kasumi, my cat recipe is great, I learned it from the head cook of a village in Korea. It's even better," at this she grinned menacingly to herself, "with pork."

A/N: Next chapter, secrets revealed. Yes, Akari has learned the Cat Fist by experienceing Ranma's memories. It will play a large part in her future interaction with Shampoo. I'm even considering doing a double Neko-ken episode. Message me or leave a review with ideas.


	8. Better Left Unanswered

CH 8: Better Left Unanswered

A/N: The second of my big two part post. Yes, I know, the title was kinda…ya know. Anyway, I thought it fit nice since this was the big chapter where everyone finds out about Akari's origin.

***Yesterday After School***

"What do you mean you can't find anything?!" It really wasn't her fault, but right now Nabiki was too stressed to be quite so logical towards her underling.

The girl got down on the ground and bowed. She recognized that cold tone, even colder that Nabiki's normal Ice Queen tone, suggesting an upgrade from Ice to Arctic. That tone always meant that Nabiki was pissed, and it would be wise to stay on her good side so you could be in the clear when the dust settled from whatever she did to release her "displeasure" on her target. After all, there used to be a competitor for Tofu Ono's practice, until Nabiki found out her sister liked the doctor. Now a mention of competition made everyone look around nervously and decide that they wanted to not know that person anymore.(Nabiki really is devious isn't she?)

"Gomen Nabiki-sama, but there was no information on her. No birth certificate, no parents, no previous residence, no elementary or primary school, no transfer records… it's as if she just appeared out of thin air and showed up at your house." (How right she is, ne readers?)

Nabiki took a concerted effort to calm herself. It really wasn't this girl's fault, but she was the 15th out of the 20 people she had assigned to this task who had given this same answer. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. She massaged her temples with one hand.

"And the envelopes?" The girl brightened considerably, finally having something positive to tell her.

"All of the envelopes containing information about Ranma were distributed without detection, although it did take my team a while to find the Hibiki boy."

"Fine, you are dismissed." The girl leapt up and scrambled away, glad to be away from an upset Nabiki. It wasn't really the failures, and Nabiki didn't even mind not making a profit on the information to the various people involved in Ranma's life. No, this went far deeper, practically challenging her entire belief system.

Nabiki firmly believed that any information could be found, given you had the right means to acquire it. This dilemma rubbed against her so bad because there didn't seem to be any information on this girl.

**Present***

What did I do to deserve this? Ranma found himself asking any kami who were listening, whilst he ran away from his fiancé brigade.

***Earlier that Morning***

*CRASH* Nabiki made a mental note to bill Shampoo for the wall repair.

"Ranma! Why you cheat on Shampoo?"

Now, let us pause and reflect. Anywhere else, a well endowed girl breaking through ones wall with bonbori and full Amazonian battle gear, flames in her eyes, would have been met with quite a racket. This was Nerima however, and events such as this had become so common place that all the neighbors and residents of the Tendo Dojo just lost interest and turned back to whatever they were doing.

"Oh Shampoo, how are you today," came the completely oblivious voice of Kasumi, "would you like some tea?"

"I'm sorry Kasumi, but my great grand daughter and I have some pressing business to discuss with son-in-law, " came the voice of Cologne, whacking Shampoo upside the head and admonishing her for not using the door like a sensible person.

"Oh my, that's too bad." Kasumi turned back to what she was doing. Cologne turned to Ranma.

"Seriously son-in-law, what were you thinking?" Akari counted. 4-3-2-1 mark.

"Ho ho ho ho! Who has defiled you Ranma-sama?"

"Foul sorceror Saotome. Not only do you corrupt the fierce tigress Akane Tendo and the Pigtailed Girl, but you also dare to cheat on them as well! I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, cannot allow it!"

"Ran-chan, what's this I hear about you having a kid?" Ranma slapped his hand over his face. Not Ucchan too. Upon hearing this bombardment of comments(especially that last one), Several reactions occurred at the Tendo table simultaneously.

"BOOOOOY what is the meaning of this!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, now the schools will never be joined!"(this was accompanied by a generous amount of water works.)

"Oh my, how improper."

"Ranma!!!"(This one was followed by a glowing battle aura and the appearance of a Ki mallet.)Akane's head slowly turned towards Ranma' spot.

"Hehe…" Ranma pointed towards the genkan, "look a distraction," and he promptly dashed out to the back yard, fiancé brigade in hot pursuit.

"Ranma!! How dare you cheat on Akane! Prepare to die!"

Even Ryoga! Ranma ran around like crazy, "Why does this happen to me!!!!"

Akari's eyes darted around the room. Shampoo and herself were the only one's there during her slip up (which she hadn't realized till everyone started causing a ruckus about it), so unless Shampoo went around giving out blackmail material (which she didn't) there was only one other person who could have done this. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the slight snear on Nabiki's face.

"Nabiki-san, may I see you for a minute." Her voice was so cold you could store fish in the room. Nabiki schooled her features. "Of course Akari-san." Akari and Nabiki went into the living room. Akari had her hand up, a finger pointing at Nabiki's face ,her mouth open and about to let her have it when Ranma managed to somehow trip and fall in a perfect position to be knocked out by one of the rocks around the koi pond. Yeah, he's good like that. Akari turned to see what was going on and sighed.

"Ma taku(1), this is starting to turn out like a bad fan fiction."(YF sweat drops) She turned back to Nabiki.

"This isn't over," she said in a voice that bridged no argument. "Denkou Ippo (Lightning Step)," she mumbled, and in the blink of an eye she was standing protectively over her mother. "Go Tesaki no Makai," Akari shouted as she held up a hand and pointed it at the oncoming fiancés. Five small red balls of Ki flew out of her hand and hit the oncoming line. A massive surge of Ki saturated the area, and pounded the oncoming martial artists(including Akane) into the ground.

"Listen up you poor excuses for martial artists." Akari's eyes started to glow, reminding all present(the conscious ones anyway) of an oni. "From this point on, Ranma Saotome is under my protection. Anyone who wishes to touch my Okaa-san will have to face the Grandmaster of the De**n**kou Kobushi Ryuu!" Various groans came from the bodies in front of her. "Good, now get outa my sight. Go Tesaki no Tentou." She pointed the other hand at the group, and five more bundles of Ki(this time white), burst forth and blasted all of the various fiances away( she managed to leave Akane here).

(1)-Basically means something to the effect of "Jeeze" or if you are a Shikamaru fan, "Troublesome". Basically a mild exclamation of annoyance with the situation or world in general.

A/N: Anyone wishing for the translated names of the attacks simply slap that request on the end of your review and I will gladly give you a follow up.


	9. Emotions

Ch 9: Emotion

A/N: This is actually based off a one shot I was going to write about Ranma. Also, I have updated my profile, so go check it out. There is also a poll to vote for my next story, so tell me what YOU want. All the story concepts are in my profile, so go take a look.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½. I also don't own Oh My Goddess, I just make references to it.

Genma and Soun played Shogi after dinner, enjoying some sake to take the edge off the chill that was starting to appear in the late autumn air. Genma was mumbling at the board about girly sons and disgraces to the Art. Akari found herself draining her herbal tea as opposed to sipping it just to keep calm instead of beating up her oji-san. She decided a good work out was what she needed to calm down. Normally she would have taken any frustration out on a sparring partner, but now she couldn't even do that for fear of teaching someone any techniques indirectly, and thus altering the timeline. She thought back to her conversation with the Kami of Chaos on the subject.

***Flashback***

Akari was listening in fascination to the Kami of Chaos, but something was nagging her. She remembered hearing some science club nerds talking about something called…

"But wait, wouldn't going back in time cause a problem with the grandfather paradox?"

" Ah yes, the quaint little theory that you could actually change time. No, unfortunately, the Ultimate Force has cemented time in place. It cannot be changed."

"But-" He held up a hand.

" Allow me to explain. In an existence where any and all choices have an infinite number of solutions, the universe must allow for all of them to occur. Thus, alternate realities are created. The 'observable' universe is only limited by what your four dimensional mind can handle or grasp, thus saving you from going insane. "

"…"

Can you imagine what it would be like if you had the memories of all the versions of yourself in existence, as well as their thoughts and feelings, running through your head at the same time?" Akari could only shudder at this rhetorical question.

"By going back in time and 'altering' the past, you merely change the 'choice' of that timeline, and thus create a new reality, completely separate from the one you started in.

Take this spoon for example," he pulled a spoon from out of nowhere, "to you, it may seem just an ordinary spoon. But somewhere, in some other universe, its metals may have been used to make… oh say… a katana, or an airplane. The universe is only defined by the limitations you put on it." The Kami of Chaos grinned, " In essence, there is no spoon." The Kami of Chaos promptly poofed the spoon into a cookie and devoured it.

Akari let all this sink in for a moment. She decided to go with her mother's old style of response. Be a sarcastic smart ass. "Fine, then if I define the universe, then I say there is a steaming hot cup of tea in my hand." She held out her hand as if she was grasping a cup…but nothing happened. The Kami of Chaos chuckled.

"I'm sorry my child, but the universe doesn't conform to the wishes of every mortal. I'm only allowed to do this," he gestured to the half eaten cookie, "myself because I am an essential force to the universe." He adopted a far off look. He mumbled to himself.

"However, you are a Tendo so maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

He waved his hand in a dismissing gesture. "Nothing dear. Now, about the things you shouldn't change..."

***End Flashback***

Akari arrived at the dojo, only to hear something far more disturbing than the conversation with the Kami of Chaos.

"Ranma, fight me!" Akari opened the door to a familiar, if very upsetting, sight of Ranma with both arms behind his back and dodging nimbly round Akane's punches and kicks. Akari felt her anger flare up within her.

"Okaa-san no BAKA!" A chi hammer appeared in her hand and she slammed it down on top of Ranma. This probably wouldn't have affected Ranma much, seeing as it happens on a regular basis, but due to the vast difference between Akane's and Akari's chi levels, it changed from the level of being hit with a medium sized rock to the level of being hit by a pallet of bricks. Akari's hand flew up to cover her mouth, and she looked at the mallet still clutched in her other hand with revulsion. She struggled to unclench her fist, her whole arm shaking with the effort, a sigh escaped her lips as she let it disperse, and then slumped to the floor.

Akane rushed over, only sparing Ranma a glance to make sure he was ok. Akane heard her mumble something that sounded suspiciously like "I can't do it, can I?" The strong teenager clutched the front of Akane's shirt, and she found herself comforting the teenager a second time in less than 3 days.

_It's strange,_ thought Akane, _I almost forgot how young she was. _Akane gained a thoughtfull look, slowly shifting into a slight frown. _She's so strong normally, so confident, it's hard to believe she is not a full grown adult._ She favored Akari with a slight smile as she stroked her hair._ She reminds me of…it can't be… can it? Oh kami she really is Ranma's daughter!_ She took a mental step back and examined the evidence. Red hair, Confident Nature, Protective… as Akane listed the similairities off, she grew more and more positive that Akari was Ranma's daughter, but then, who was the other parent?

A thought struck Akane, a memory of Akari talking to her. The way she lit up when Akane praised her skills. The way she always stuttered out Ot- before correcting herself. It couldn't be! But what if it was? Ranma, having recovered, peeled himself off the floor, and walked over to where Akane was, only to have her gaze up into his eyes with a look that said 'I don't know either' but also 'I'm scared'. Ranma just stared into her eyes for a long time, and, with a resigned sigh, sat down next to Akane to support his inazuke.

Time drifted, leaving the scene before us undisturbed. Akari, clutching to Akane's shirt, with Ranma's hand on her shoulder. Awkward as he felt, he hated to see girls cry. Slowly, as all things do in life, Akari's sadness receded. Her flow of tears calmed and, with an ever fading series of hiccupping sobs, she slowly drifted off to sleep, snuggling into Akane's chest(remind you of any pigs?). All the while Akane took the active comforting role. She slowly stroked Akari's hair, quietly reassuring her all the while. As Akari drifted off to sleep, Akane found herself staring down at Akari with a smile on her face. _I wonder if this is what it's like to be a mother?_

***

Akari woke to the sound of Ranma and Akane quietly talking.

"… dunno Akane, it just doesn't sit well with me."

"But you can't deny the possibility that she _is_ your daughter."

Akari took a deep breath and opened her eyes, alerting Akane and Ranma to the fact that she was awake. Akane was smiling down at her with one of those glowing smiles that seemed to light up the room(at least to Ranma and Akari).

"Hey, you feeling any better?"

Akari sighed, and sat up, placing herself so she was facing both of them. She took another deep breath and stated, "I need your help." Akari looked both Ranma and Akane in the eyes. "I can't do this alone anymore, I need someone to help, and thus, I turn to you."

"But why us-" Ranma started, only to be cut off by a raised hand from Akari.

"Please, allow me to explain fully before asking any questions." Akari broke off, muttering to herself "Where to start?"

Saotome foot-in-mouth disease kicked in, "The beginning would be a good place." Akane favored him with a less than pleased glare, but Akari, displaying an oblivious smile (guess who she learned that from) stated, "Yes, I believe that would be the perfect place to start. As you both know, my given name is Akari, but I have never given my family name, that is because, my family name is, Tendo."

A/N: Yes, I am truly evil for leaving such a cliffhanger, don't worry, the next chapter is practically done. Also, to reiterate for those of you who didn't read the top A/N but are reading these for some reason, I have updated my profile, so go check it out. There is also a poll to vote for my next story, so tell me what YOU want. All the story concepts are in my profile, so go take a look.


	10. The Truth Comes Out

CH. 10: The Truth Comes Out

A/N: Okies, time for review replies *presses button and applause sign lights up*

Andrew: OMFG! You hit so close to the nail's head it's kinda scary. Ranma will have a kid, but he won't see it coming till she's already pregnant. If you go back to the part where Akari recieves her parents' memories, you will pretty much see an outline of what happens to lead up to the gender swap. Also, you are completely right, there will be some major repercussions within the Saotome family due to this. I'm glad that my way of handling Nabiki cused the right ammount of mystery. I never really liked her, so I feel just fine bashing her a bit.

Ranma-sama: Thanks for the kidn words! It's good to know people care *hugs*.

Crusincloud: Thanks for the alert

Tri-Emporer of the Twilight: Thank you for your kind words, and for the fave and story alerts.

Everyone: Thank you so much for your love and support. It's reviewers like you who make writing worth while. Special thanks also goes out to my beta, who makes my writing legible.

Poll Results:

I can honestly say I wasn't really expecting these results. I mean, I knew they would be popular, but not this much. 'A Shoulder To Cry On' and 'Wild Horse Effect' are in a tie for first place with five votes each. 'Can't Get That Here' is running a close second at four votes. 'Friends...or More' is pulling three, and 'A True Master' is bringing up the rear with one vote. I honestly didn't expect this distribution of votes. I figured there would be an obvious lead. If there is still a tie at the end of the poll, I will have to make a judgement call. Either I pick one (probably the one I have a more solid vision of) or possible work on both at once. Either way, this is an intense race, as four of the choices are only a vote or two off.

Ok, enough of my rambling, on with the story.

* * *

The silence was so thick it put Ranma's skull to shame. Even he though, grasped the gravity of the situation. "That aint possible, that would mean I would have had-" Ranma was cut off by a glare from Akari that promised untold pain and suffering if he wasn't quiet. Having only received it a few time from his mother, usually accompanied by the partial unsheathing of a katana, Ranma eeped and shut up. Akari herself was surprised it worked so well, having only received it a few times from _her_ mother, and thus not being sure she could pull it off.

"As I was saying, my full name is Tendo Akari."

_Goddess of Light(1) huh, guess Kuno-baka wasn't too far off_. Thought Ranma.

"I'll start with why I am here. My… Ranma, was fighting a kami," here Ranma groaned _not another one._ " and my…other parent got… hit with one of the blasts." Akari's shoulders started to shake, "Ranma, unable to deal with the death, left the Tendo household." Akari tried to keep her expression schooled, but a few tears still managed to escape.

"As if the funeral wasn't sad enough," here tears started showing their presence in earnest, "I… I'm sorry, please give me a minute. " Akari turned around, trying to center herself again to keep going. Ranma and Akane gave her plenty of space. Hell, Ranma would have given here all the time in the world, had he mentioned how much he hated to see girls cry.

Akari, while not completely centered again, had managed to, at least temporarily, stem the tide of tears, and stop her shoulders from shaking. She turned around to face them again. "I…I received a letter, shortly after the funeral, stating mo…Ranma's intentions." Tears started to flow again. "Ranma couldn't stand being without…her, and decided to end…his life." Both of them took these pauses as emotional pauses, rather than the breaks to insert the, ehem, proper gender pronouns in that they were. "Mo…Ranma died, protecting me," A flash of the memory, from both of their perspectives, played through Akari's head, "…he chose to put himself below me when we both fell from a cliff, and the rocks at the bottom broke her spine, at least, that's what I was told." Tears were flowing down in little streams now. Ranma was thinking, _done in by a fall, gods, if pops knew, I'd never hear the end of it._ Akane however, was on a completely different thought path.

She was remembering the ice skating competition, as Ranma put himself behind her to save her from the fallout of the failed Couple Cleaver. She remembered not feeling much of the impact, and looking down at what she thought was a dead Ranma, sacrificing himself to save her. At that moment, she felt like something had died inside her. Luckily, Ranma had gotten back up, and she didn't have to deal with those emotions. The recoil of her emotions ended up coming out in anger, how dare he try to leave her alone like that, and continued to set them apart, but since Jusendo, they had gotten closer.

Akane looked up at Akari, remembering how she had felt after her mother died. _Gods, what must it be like to watch both of your parents die in front of you, not to mention… that._ Akane cringed away from even thinking of those emotions that she had felt after she and Ranma had hit the wall. Akari's voice, thick with tears as it was, broke both of them out of their own thoughts.

"I told you before that my other parent died from a stray energy blast, but that isn't quite true. I was about… five or six at the time. The god, or demi-god, as the case may be, Ka Yen, had finally tracked down…Ranma, and tried to attack mo…Ranma, for some sort of vengeance. Just as Ranma was winning, she shot a bolt of ki at me. Otou-san…" Akari broke down here, and it took her a few awkward minutes to get herself under control again. "… my parent jumped in front of me, the beam of ki… it pierced her heart." Akari lowered her head, her eyes closed, and swallowed, trying to get up the will to continue. She looked up and gazed into Akane's eyes with her own, and Akane saw pain that shouldn't have been present in a child so young. "Akane… it was you."

Akari hurried on, not letting the information fully sink it. "Chaos-sama stepped in and took a hand in… for lack of a better term, rewriting history," she paused for a moment, looking up and staring Ranma in the eye "he essentially sent me back in time to stop you from dying Ranma," she turned her gaze upon Akane, "and by extension, you."

Akane tried to dry her tears. It's not every day you are told that someone was sent back in time, essentially, to stop your death. Then it hit her, like a brick to the face, "But… that would make you…" She looked over in shock at Ranma, seeing the same look of shock in his eyes, "and we would have…oh my." Her blush was cherry red, and she trailed off with a distinctly Kasumi-like comment.

Akari looked at both of them, and decided to restate her purpose, just in case, "Mother…Father… I was sent back to keep you two together," she turned to face just Ranma, "You of all people…father, should realize what this means, I know you are smarter than you let on." Ranma's eyes widened in disbelief, then he seemed to deflate a moment, before springing back into life, "Guess the jig is up." Ranma laughed good naturedly and scratched the back of his head, as if someone had just caught him sweeping dust under the rug, not deceiving everyone around him.

Akane looked at him wide eyed. Not only was that perfect Japanese, there was none of his usual macho or slang anywhere. Gone was the macho- jerk she had known, and in his place was this stranger. He looked like Ranma, but he spoke and acted much more mature and sophisticated. "Ranma, what does she mean?"

Akari stepped in here, "Ranma is much smarter and sharper than anyone gives him credit for," she paused to chuckle at how thorough he had been, "by design as a matter of fact." Here she received a nod from Ranma, further shocking Akane. "It's one of the founding tenants of Anything Goes," Akari started, "Control what your opponent sees and you control his thoughts, making him predictable," the both finished off. Akari took over again, "No-one ever thought how far Ranma would go to control his opponents thoughts however, going as far as to incorporate it into his very life. Anything Goes Living, you might say." She chuckled, and allowed a brief lapse in her monologue. After allowing Akane time to collect herself, she cleared her throat and took a moment to collect herself.

"When Chaos-sama took me from the funeral, he explained that he could not let his avatar pass on. The way he explained it, Avatars can't be replaced at a moment's notice, especially one he had invested so much in. In order to help me on my mission," here she stopped, realizing how embarrassing this would be for both of her parents, "he… he showed me your lives, all the way up to…your deaths. In essence, I now know everything both of you now know, previously knew, or will ever know." Akane blushed furiously and started sputtering imprecations at the mere thought of her privacy being violated like that. Ranma was the first to realize it though, and he made it known with a gasp, partially of shock, partially of anticipation.

"Yes, that's right Ranma, I have learned all techniques ever developed by both schools, both up to the present, and in the future. "

"But that would mean… that you learned-"

"Yes Ranma, I learned the Neko-ken as well, and I can help you with it." A pregnant pause filled the air, "I hope you both realize the risk I am taking here, just letting the both of you know that I am from the future could potentially cause irreparable damage to the timeline. I'm also laying myself out before you, if you two do not marry, I may cease to exist." With that thought, she stood and left them, returning to her own thoughts about how to handle a certain mercenary girl.

Already upset again, just at the thought of Nabiki, Akari stormed out of the dojo, back to her tea. Ranma stood up and started to stretch out his muscles. Akane stepped forward. Having the vivid reminder of the earlier revelations thrust in her face firmed her resolve. She would get Ranma to talk to her about this.

"Ranma, we need to talk."

"Yeah, we do."Ranma knew what she wanted, but tried desperately to deny it. He devoutly found the nearby wall extremely interesting. Akane gave him a tolerating look. Akari's earlier statements had backed up the growing suspicion in the back of her mind.

Ranma turned to her, locking her intense gaze with his unsure eyes, and then looking at the ground. His shoulders visibly slumped, and, though Akane couldn't see it, his aura shifted more towards the dark blue spectrum. "I don't know Akane, I mean, I do l…lo…care about you, a lot, but to do that… even with you…it's more than I think I'm ready for." Akane placed an arm on his back. She was seeing a new side of her inazuke. The real, emotionally unsure, Ranma. The Ranma who had doubts and fears like everyone else. It must hurt him more than anything else to display his feelings. An action he was raised to believe was weakness, and she wasn't about to betray him in his time of need. _Who knows,_ she thought, _maybe if I help him now, he will start to show me some of the real him more often._ Her resolve in place, Akane opened her mouth to comfort Ranma, when something interrupted her.

Both of their heads snapped towards the house when a scream issued forth from the kitchen area.

TBC

A/N: Yeah, a lot is crammed in here, sorry if it seems rushed or anything, but let me know what you think. I will be gone for a couple weeks starting Sunday, so I won't be able to post anything new until about the third of next month.

(1)- Tendo, according to Ranma 1/2 Perfect Edition, means " God in child form/cherub", and Akari means "Light or brightness", thus, Godess of Light.


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